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Tulane Law School Hosts Environmental Delegation from the Dominican Republic

June 24, 2005

Tulane Law School is hosting a delegation of 12 environmental officials from the Dominican Republic, visiting the United States to learn more about environmental sustainable development.

The officials are in New Orleans this week and in Washington, D.C. next week as part of a two-week course sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and designed by Tulane's Institute of Environmental Law and Policy. They have been combining classroom sessions with opportunities to meet a range of environmental experts and community leaders, including meetings in Baton Rouge with several Louisiana Representatives and Senators, and with the Director of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and his chief deputies.The course will continue next week in Washington with classroom sessions and meetings at the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Interior, Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Senate, as well as interaction with several leading non-governmental organizations.

The goal of the course is to teach the visiting officials to better manage relations with citizens and lawmakers and to strengthen the legal framework for sustainable development in their country.

Eric Dannenmaier, Director of Tulane's Institute of Environmental Law and Policy explained: "As environmental leaders in a coastal Caribbean state, these officials have much in common with Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states. They are trying to balance an interest in economic prosperity with the very real need to conserve the natural resources that make prosperity possible. They look at the threats to Louisiana's coastline, its communities and its heritage, and they can learn from the struggles and compromises we have made as we have tried to rise to the challenge of meeting those threats."

The Louisiana House of Representatives welcomed the delegation yesterday during the final day of the state's legislative session.